


Trusting Falls

by ReganingRainyRain



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Abusive Parents, Abusive sibling, Alternate Universe - Bill Cipher Wins, Autistic Dipper Pines, Bill Cipher is a Jerk, Bisexual Dipper Pines, Dark Dipper Pines, Dark Mabel Pines, F/M, Gravity Falls AU, Gravity Falls Oregon, M/M, Manipulative Bill Cipher, Mason Pines - Freeform, PTSD Dipper Pines, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, The Nightmare Realm (Gravity Falls), Trusting Falls, pine tree
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2019-11-13 01:48:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18022508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReganingRainyRain/pseuds/ReganingRainyRain
Summary: When Dipper Pines and Mabel Pines, aged 12, come to live in Gravity Falls after being rescued from abusive parents, Dipper has no one. Not his sister, who has followed in her parents' ways. Not Stan, oblivious to her actions. Until he comes across a mysterious journal.Summoned by accident, Bill Cipher has been plotting his escape from the Nightmare Realm for over a trillion years. And the friendless, abused child who summons him just might be his ticket out.





	1. The Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> FIRST OFF, A TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS ENTIRE STORY. There are many mentions/instances of abuse/bullying, and some mentions of attempted suicide. Don't like, don't read, don't say I didn't warn you.
> 
> Just occurred to me that Dipper and Mabel Pines are based off of real people. I'm sorry, Alex and Ariel, for writing this mess of angst. Dear everyone: it gets worse, don't worry.
> 
> If you're still here, enjoy the fic!

There was a firm knock at the door.

Stanley Pines groaned in annoyance while shoving his arrest warrants from previous identities further under the carpet, and slowly walked over to the door. "Is this law enforcement? What do you want?" He opened the door to two officers from Child Protective Services, one male, one female. Behind them were two children, a boy and a girl. The boy was hiding behind the adults, shaking, fear etched onto his face.

"Mr. Stanford Pines? That is your name, correct?"

Stanley caught the decades-old phrase of "No, that's my brother" rising to his lips and replaced it with a "Yes, what is it?"

"These are the Pines twins," the male officer said, indicating the boy and girl behind her, and missing Stanley's tiny flinch. "Mabel Pines, and Mason Pines- though I understand your nickname is Dipper Pines?"

The boy- Dipper- looked at his sister, Mabel, who gave him an unreadable look, before turning to the man and confirming the nickname with a nod.

"I understand that you were informed of their arrival?" The female officer said, raising an eyebrow. "Weeks before now, in fact."

"Yeah, I- I was, but I didn't know it was gonna be today!" He hadn't prepared anything for the twins, why hadn't they informed him of the time change?

"Apologies, but we found the situation... more serious than it had been reported to us," the male officer said. "Perhaps we should discuss this without the children present." Stanley looked Dipper in the eye, noticing the scars on his face and the way the boy flinched away from the eye contact. He had to stop his fists from tightening because he knew that would only frighten the boy more. What had his niece and nephew done?

"Mr. Stanford?" Dipper whispered. "What does the big sign say? The one... the one over the door?"

"Grunkle Stan's fine, kid." The boy nodded. "And... you really can't tell what it says?"

"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked!" Dipper's voice rose to an incredibly high pitch, wetness beginning to pool in his eyes. "I was just curious..."

Think, Stanley, think, he thought to himself. What had he gotten himself into? Would he be able to deal with the kid? "Um... Dipper, it's fine. It says Mystery Shack," Stanley said, trying to get the boy to calm down, and it worked. Dipper looked at the sign, then back at him.

"Mystery Shack," Stanley repeated.

"Mystery Shack," Dipper echoed. Stanley saw the faint echo of a smile on his face.

"Welcome to the Mystery Shack, kids," Stanley said. "Go sit in the living room, it's over here. I'll... just be a minute." Mabel eagerly ran inside the house, while Dipper almost shivered as he followed her. Stanley missed the sneer on Mabel's face, the taunts, the way Dipper's head hung and her pushing him off the seat in the living room onto the floor.

Stanley instead sighed as he turned back to the man and woman. "So, I'm guessing it's not good."

"It isn't. We found the boy on top of a crane, he felt guilty about hurting his father, enough so to almost jump off of it. Thankfully, we persuaded him to climb down, and he told us about his situation. We arrested his parents immediately when we arrived." The woman looked down at her clipboard, which was filled almost to breaking point with notes on the case.

"What did they do to those kids?" Stanley wasn't sure whether he wanted to hear, shifting from foot to foot, but he had to know. He had to protect these kids.

"They... they were abused," the man said. He had obviously been more emotionally invested in the case than the woman, and Stanley could see his hands shaking from suppressed rage. "The boy seemed to have it worse than the girl. He also has Asperger's syndrome, which is technically a type of autism." Stanley got it. It was the way he'd been treated, although not nearly as extremely: his father disregarding him because he wasn't as talented as his brother. In the same way, Dipper had been abused more, heck, hadn't even been taught how to read, just because he wasn't 'normal'.

"Are you sure you're up for taking care of them?" The woman asked him, a flash of concern on her face for only a moment. "We could put them in a foster home if you're not-"

"Nah, the kids'll be fine with me. I'm not dumping them in some foster home just because of their parents." Stanley's face was resolved. He'd take care of the kids. They didn't seem that badly affected, at least, Mabel didn't, and he'd do his best with Dipper. "Is there anything else I need to know about taking care of 'em?"

"There is a summer school program for children with learning difficulties and background problems, and coincidentally there's a branch at the local school." The woman flipped through her files again, finding one specific page before looking back up at Stanley. "We're considering sending the children there, certainly Dipper if not both of them."

"You're just asking that I be there to take them and pick them up?" Stanley asked, and the man nodded in response. "That's easy enough. I'll do my best to take care of the kids."

The man handed Stanley a piece of paper. "We're the case workers. I'm Adam and my coworker is Beatrice. Call us if you have any problems with the kids, we'll come in to check up on them every so often. We'd stay longer, but we have a large number of cases, and you seem to be doing alright. We'll be calling you very soon about the location of the school."

And just like that, Stanley Pines had two children living with him.

What had he gotten himself into?

\--- Dipper, 3rd person view ---

Dipper Pines sat on the floor of the living room, staring at the television with sparkling eyes. His mind could hardly grasp the concept; there weren't people there? It was just a glass screen? Why, what, how? He wanted to see, to explore. He wanted to know everything.

His eyes darted around the room, looking at the designs he thought so intricate. The lamp, the blue tank - what was that anyway? What was in it? He was sure there was something moving in there.

His sister, Mabel, wasn't as amazed. Of course she wasn't. She'd seen everything before; after a few years, when their parents knew that she wasn't a freak like him, she was allowed to go out, she even went to school while he spent all day shut up in the basement. The only reason he knew long words was from observance. Nevertheless, she was still focused on the television, which meant that she wasn't focused on him. His fists balled up as jealousy welled inside him. It wasn't fair, why couldn't he have had this? Why did he have to be some mentally disturbed weirdo?

Then his thoughts shifted, as they always did. Whispering that it was his fault his parents were in jail. If he'd just kept his mouth shut... He shook his head. 'No,' he told himself, 'they deserved it. Mabel didn't escape unscathed either. If nothing else, then at least we're safe.'

Stan Pines entered the room and both of them snapped to attention, Dipper a little faster than Mabel. Sweat began to pool in his palms and he hurriedly rubbed them on his shirt, fiddling with the buttons. He had ripped one of them off on the way to the house. Forcing himself to make eye contact with Stan was very uncomfortable, so he looked at the door frame next to his head and hoped that he wouldn't mind.

"So, uh, hey kids," Stan said, shifting from foot to foot. He had sounded confident to Dipper when the case workers had been there, but now he seemed unsure. "I guess we should introduce ourselves. My name's Stan Pines, but just call me Grunkle Stan." His voice, once shivery, started to steady itself as he continued.

"My name's Mabel," said his sister in a sickly-sweet voice. Sugarcoated to make the adults believe that she was some innocent little girl. Learnt from their parents, obviously. Their shitty excuses for parents. "I like unicorns!" Her excited little-girl voice was working on Grunkle Stan. Finished, she turned to him, one eyebrow raised.

"My name's Ma- Dipper." He had been about to say Mason; what was he thinking? Robbing Mabel of an opportunity to tease him would result in worse consequences later. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mabel give him a tiny nod. Maybe she'd spare him later, then. "I think I like the forest."

Grunkle Stan nodded, and Dipper listened with interest as he started talking again. "Alright, so, I run this shack. It's a tourist trap, so there are gonna be a lot of people coming in." He turned to Dipper, who instinctively flinched. "Kid, it's okay. I know you're..." He faltered. "You know what, I'm just gonna ask: are you okay with that?"

Dipper nodded. If the worst came to the worst, he could just run out of the Shack. The forest around it looked quiet, and no one else seemed to live very near the Shack. "Mr. Pines... um... Grunkle Stan? Can I go into the forest sometimes?" He shouldn't have asked, he shouldn't have asked! Now Stan was going to be angry at him! He dropped his gaze to the floor in shame.

"I mean... during the day, sure. As long as you don't go too far away from the Shack without someone else, I don't see why not." Dipper's head shot up in surprise. He had expected rejection, but this... he hadn't actually expected Stan to say yes! He smiled, his grin stretching from ear to ear. Maybe this place really wasn't all that bad.

"Thank you, Mr. Pines- sorry, Grunkle Stan." Dipper eagerly anticipated walking through the dark woods, just being alone with his thoughts and the animals. He almost wanted to go right now, he'd had enough of these bright places for one day.

"Anyway, you kids have probably had a long day, right?" Mabel hesitated before nodding at Stan in response to the question. "In that case, you should probably hit the hay. Up the stairs to the top, that's the attic. Wasn't expecting you today, but I'd prepared the room a while before." Dipper's confusion threatened to overwhelm him, but then realised that Mabel understood, and followed her up the stairs.

"If there's only one bed, you're not getting it," she hissed at him as they went up. He nodded. No need to make his stay harder on its first day, and part of that involved just going along with Mabel. He could only hope that Grunkle Stan would soon notice.

Upon arriving at the attic, Dipper breathed out as he saw that there were two beds. Mabel shrugged and ran to the one on the right, swinging her case around and plopping it onto her bed. It swung open with a click and she began to retrieve objects from inside. Dipper, owning nothing except the clothes on his back, climbed into the bed instead. The case workers had made him take a shower at the emergency home before they left, and Dipper had hated the sensation of water flooding over his body, but had borne it.

Shaking his head to rid it of thoughts, Dipper closed his eyes, too tired to care about Mabel's shenanigans. He drifted off, barely believing that he had been lucky enough to get a bed.

It might just have been a dream, after all.

2-21-18-18 21-11 7-3-10-1-22-21-16-23, 26-15-16'10 7-15-12-12-5.


	2. Summer School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper goes to school and meets people. He gets his hat, and a new nickname.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains Islamophobia and mentions of abuse, please proceed with caution.
> 
> Some of the characters met here are very important to the plot later on, so please don't moan about filler chapters. Thank you, and enjoy the chapter!

Dipper stirred and opened his eyes to a knock on the door. He flinched; it was a nice dream he'd had, but it wasn't reality, unfortunately. He pushed back his bedcovers and got out of bed- wait, bedcovers? His parents never gave him a bed!

'Was the dream real? Was it a dream?' Dipper asked himself. Come to think of it, he hadn't felt this well-rested in... well... ever.

"KIDS!" Grunkle Stan shouted. "It's time for breakfast!"

Dipper wanted to ask what that was, but he didn't want to shout. Instead he got up, to see Mabel already on her feet.

"Huh. I thought that was just a really weird dream." Mabel said, rubbing her eyes.

"Me too," Dipper replied. After a pause, he asked, "What's breakfast?"

Mabel facepalmed. "Just follow me, Dipstick." Dipper obeyed, following Mabel down the stairs, his mouth almost flopping open at the sight awaiting him. He had never seen so much food. Jealousy welled up, threatening to expel from his mouth, and he had to force it back down into his stomach. Mabel got all this food?

Mabel sat down, and he stayed standing. Grunkle Stan looked at him questioningly. "Something the matter, kid?"

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked. There was no way any of this was for him.

"Uh... sit down and eat?" Grunkle Stan's face was turning into one of realisation. "Have you never had this before?" His voice was laced with concern - or perhaps spiked. False, true, Dipper couldn't tell.

"No," Dipper replied, becoming confused. "This isn't for me, it's for Mabel, right?"

"It's for all of us, Dipper," Grunkle Stan was becoming more and more worried. No wonder he was so malnourished. Dipper could see the thoughts racing through his head. He was utterly confused, but pulled out a chair and sat down even so. He grabbed a slice of bread and began to eat it. Grunkle Stan looked at him like he had expected him to do something different, but didn't say anything. Dipper wolfed the bread down quickly. He wanted more.

He grabbed another slice, looking at Grunkle Stan, who nodded. This time, he looked over at Mabel, who was piling butter and jam on her slices before she ate them, and copied her. Grabbing the butter knife, he clumsily buttered the bread, then used the knife stuck in the jam bowl to spread jam across it. He lifted it to his mouth, then bit in, and it was like heaven. Grunkle Stan almost laughed at his expression. Mabel did laugh. He continued eating, an absent look on his face, before Grunkle Stan spoke, pulling him back down into reality.

"So, Dipper, today's your first day of summer school," he announced out of the blue.

Dipper swallowed his bread far too fast, choked, and swallowed again, tears streaming down his face while Mabel tried not to laugh. "I get to go to school? I've never been to school, ever!"

"Yeah, well," Grunkle Stan tried to hide his concern, "today's the first day, and I'm supposed to be there with you in about an hour." Dipper felt like bouncing in his seat. He was finally going to get to go to school like Mabel!

"Good luck, bro-bro, school sucks," Mabel told him as they climbed the stairs back up to the attic. "I wouldn't be surprised if they beat you up first day there!"

"I'll make sure they save some of the beating-up for you, don't worry," Dipper responded sarcastically. He quickly washed himself (he'd rather not have Mabel half-drown him in the sink, thank you) and pulled on his blue jacket, running back downstairs.

"Ready to go, kid?" Grunkle Stan asked him.

"Yeah, but... do you have a hat?" His old, tattered hat was beginning to fall apart and he didn't want to go to school looking like a wreck.

"We have some in the Shack. Normally I'd charge for them, but you have no money, and..." Dipper nodded. Unable to believe his luck, he raced into the gift shop, and looked at the clothes. He grabbed one of the blue pine tree hats, stuffing the other one into his jacket.

"Nice choice, kid. Let's go," Grunkle Stan said once he was back outside.

"Yes, but... who's going to look after Mabel while you're gone?" Dipper asked.

"Eh, don't worry, I'll get my handyman to take care of her. SOOS!" He yelled, causing Dipper to flinch and put his hands over his head. "Oh- sorry, kid. Soos?" He said, quietly this time. "Look after Mabel, would ya? I'll be about an hour!"

"Sure thing, Mr. Pines!" Dipper stared. A large man with tools on his belt waved to Stan and walked into the house. Before closing the door, he noticed Dipper. "Oh, hey dude! You must be one of the twins. I'm Soos!"

"H-hello, Soos. I'm Dipper, Dipper Pines." Dipper waved back at him hesitantly.

"Alright kid, we gotta get going, we still have to go to the store and get you some things," Stan said. Dipper nodded at Soos, before turning away and following Stan into his car.

The drive to the store was awkward, at least for Stan it was. Dipper didn't speak. He hadn't noticed the car while in autopilot mode, but now he did, and he was fascinated. He stared at the scenery and the other cars whizzing by, only noticing that they had stopped when Grunkle Stan got out and motioned for him to do the same.

The store was loud and busy, too much so for Dipper's liking, so they did what they had to fast. Dipper got a new backpack, a pencil case, some pencils, grey and coloured, a glue stick, a ruler, a rubber and a sharpener - basic school tools. Grunkle Stan assured him that anything else they needed, the school could provide, and they could get later.

They arrived at the school with five minutes to spare, which Dipper spent in the car, calming down. He was shaking, his palms sweaty, despite his feelings when Grunkle Stan had told him about the school. Mabel's words had made him upset, and he knew it.

"Grunkle Stan, am I going to get beaten up?" he asked Stan as they finally got out of the car and began walking towards the school. Stan didn't answer, and he sensed it was best not to ask a second time.

They found themselves at the reception desk, and Dipper let his mind wander while Stan spoke to the receptionist. They were talking about him, he knew, talking about his autism and his background and his illiteracy, but he couldn't care less. This place was bright, bright and colourful and Dipper loved it. He wanted to go. And he knew Grunkle Stan couldn't come with him.

"Dipper? Dipper?" Someone was asking him. "That is your name, correct?" The receptionist.

"My official name's Mason Pines," he responded. Why not call himself that? Mabel wasn't there to say any different.

"Alright, Mason, say goodbye to your uncle and follow me," she said. Dipper said goodbye to Grunkle Stan, then turned away and followed the woman.

"Miss, I can't read. Can I still learn here?" Dipper asked her, almost running to keep up with her.

"Of course!" The woman smiled down at him. "We have quite a few illiterate students here. We separate classes by ability rather than age. Here is your classroom." They stopped outside a room labelled 1L. "My name is Miss Oscar, I'm the receptionist. Please come to me if you have any issues."

Dipper walked into the classroom as Miss Oscar left, and immediately every eye turned to him. The majority of students hadn't arrived yet, so there weren't many people there, but Dipper's face still burned and he made himself as small as possible. Thankfully, everyone soon turned back to their former activities. One boy who looked about 13 was singing the ABC song. Another was scribbling down letters in a workbook.

"Ah, hello there Mason Pines!" The teacher walked up to him. He took a few steps back, and she backed off as well. "Sorry. My name is Mrs Laurence. May I show you around our classroom?"

Dipper nodded, and she began to lead him around. "The pegs are here. I've labelled one in advance for you. You can put the jacket on it if you want." Dipper shook his head, and she smiled. "That's alright."

Leading him over to another corner of the room, where there was another door. "This is a door to the quiet room. If you are having difficulty and want some time alone, you can come into this room and sit down for a while." Dipper decided that this was useful and continued to listen. "The toilets are opposite this classroom. I've put your desk here, next to Malik."

The boy - Malik - was the one who had been singing the ABC song. He had reached the end of it, and looked at Dipper as he sat down and took his pencil case out of his backpack. He was black, and wore glasses. Dipper wondered if they were for long- or short-sightedness.

"Hey there, Pine Tree," he said, grinning. Dipper looked at him, not quite sure how to respond to this.

"Hello," he eventually replied. "I'm Mason. You're Malik, right?"

"Yeah, Malik Adebayo, that's me." Malik shifted his attention from the book entirely. "Sorry about that, I just called you Pine Tree because of your hat."

"No, it's alright, I don't mind," Dipper said hurriedly. "I actually kinda like it. No one's given me a nickname before." Dipper didn't count. That was just a stupid teasing name that he'd adopted.

"Alright then, Pine Tree," Malik said, grinning. "What brings you to this school full of insane people and nerds who can't read?"

"I'd say I fall into both of those categories," Dipper answered.

"You seem sane to me. Do you have autism too?" the boy asked. "I do. My parents hated me. Never learned how to read. I've only been here for a couple of days."

Dipper thought for a few moments. "Same with me. My sister got to go to school and everything, but I didn't. She's a jerk."

"That sucks. Don't worry, if your sister isn't your friend, I guess maybe I'll be a replacement." Dipper's mouth flopped open.

"I- I've never had a friend before," he said in amazement. "Are you sure? I'm a freak. Why'd anyone wanna be friends with me?"

"Hey, hey, listen." Malik made to put his hand on Dipper's shoulder, but stopped, remembering his own past. "That's your parents talking. That's your sister talking. I'm here, and now I'm talking, and you're not a freak. Autism doesn't make you a freak, okay?" Dipper looked up, tears beginning to pool in his eyes. "Come on, how about you meet some more of us?"

Malik got up, and Dipper wiped his eyes and followed him. They walked over to the boy writing down letters. His skin was fairly brown, and his eyes and hair were black. He looked up. "Dangit, Specs, I had just started to focus!" He fidgeted in his seat, finally standing up to join them. "Who's this?" he said, indicating Dipper.

"This? Oh, this is Pine Tree." Malik glanced at Dipper, then back to the boy as he spoke.

"Stop with the nicknames, Specs, it just confuses everyone," the boy said. "I'm Ramiro Flores, but this idiot calls me Question Mark because of my shirt." Looking down, Dipper saw that he did indeed have a question mark on his shirt. "Enough about me though. What's your name?"

"I'm Mason Pines, but I don't mind Pine Tree," Dipper replied.

"Wait- Pines as in Stan Pines? The guy who runs the Mystery Shack? That's where Ramiro got the shirt!" Malik said, while Ramiro tugged at his shirt. "Is he your dad or something? Thought he was too old to have kids."

"He's my great uncle. My parents weren't the best. I have a twin sister, but she doesn't have autism," Dipper answered.

"Oh, I got ya. I'm ADHD. Don't worry, I took some of my meds, I won't start bouncing off the walls," Ramiro joked.

"Not worried about it," Dipper replied. "I arrived here yesterday with my sister. She hates me because I'm a 'weirdo'," he said, making quotation marks in the air with his hands.

"She hates you because you have autism?" Ramiro exclaimed. "She needs help." All three boys laughed, and then the door swung open again. A small Asian girl with an ice-blue scarf on around her head walked into the classroom, and Malik and Ramiro immediately ran to her.

"Hey, Ice!" Malik yelled at her. "How's it going?"

"Good, thank you, Specs," she said back. Dipper instantly saw why she was called Ice; her voice was smooth and her demeanour calm. "Someone else joined our group? What's his name?"

"I'm Mason Pines." Dipper said for the third time. "These guys call me Pine Tree, though."

"Yeah, Pine Tree's like me," Malik said, and Dipper felt a warm glow inside his chest. No one had ever described themselves as being like him, and Malik even seemed proud about it. He flushed slightly red.

"Nice. I'm Noora, Noora Ibrahim. I'm dyslexic, Pine Tree. It sucks sometimes, but I have to get on with it, so that's what I do." Noora seemed to remember something. "Oh, I'm also Muslim, so sometimes I leave class for prayers. If I leave, I'm not sick, don't worry."

More kids started to file in. One of them reached for the end of Noora's scarf, but Dipper quickly stepped in and slapped his hand back. He didn't understand why the scarf was important, just that it was. "Hey, back off. That's her scarf, not yours."

"Terrorists don't belong in America, kid," the boy, who looked 15 at least, told him.

"She's not a terrorist!" Dipper yelled back. "She's a girl who's wearing a scarf. Why does that make her a terrorist?"

By now, Mrs Laurence had heard the conversation and walked over to them. "What's going on here?" she asked.

"That boy tried to take my hijab off, Mrs Laurence," Noora said. "Pine Tree- sorry, Mason stopped him." So that was what the scarf was? Maybe it was important to Muslims. It seemed to mean a lot to her.

"Nicholas, religious prejudice is not acceptable in this class," the teacher scolded. "Follow me. Class will start in a few minutes, everyone, so please finish your conversations and get back to your desks." She walked out with Nicholas, and the group turned to Dipper, who backed away.

"What did I do?" he asked, his voice rising and cracking repeatedly, his hands up to defend himself.

"I just wanted to thank you, Pine Tree," Noora said, smiling at him. "Not many people would have the courage to stand up like that. You're truly a kind person."

Dipper's face flushed red. "Thank you. Um, I should go to my desk, doesn't the lesson start now? I want to learn to read."

Noora and Ramiro laughed as Malik and Dipper made their way back to their desks across the class. A few moments later, Mrs Laurence came back without Nicholas. Dipper figured he'd been sent home for what he'd tried to do. This place really wasn't that bad after all, supporting bullied students instead of locking them away.

"Good morning, class! It's time to take attendance. Malik?"

"Yes, Mrs Laurence!"

"Nicholas, he's gone home-" So Dipper has been right.

The rest of attendance passed. Everyone was present except for Nicholas. Before the lesson started, the teacher paused. "We have a new student today. Mason Pines. Please make him feel welcome." Malik, Noora and Ramiro grinned at him and he smiled back. He finally felt like he was part of a group, and it was great.

Dipper was given a sheet, but he didn't recognise anything on it. There were only shapes on the paper. The teacher told him that it was the alphabet. He looked at the first shape.

"That's the letter A," he was told. He repeated it a few times. "Remember, it's okay if you don't understand. Your spoken language will make it easier for you." Dipper perked up a little upon hearing this.

By the end of the day, he was able to sing the whole ABC song and recite all the sounds, although he could only recognise a few letters. He was given a chart to practice at home, and stuffed it in his backpack.

Grunkle Stan arrived at 2pm to pick him up. Noora's parents hadn't arrived by then, so he waved to her as he walked to Grunkle Stan.

"See you tomorrow, Pine Tree!" she called above the other children's noise. He waved in response, before getting into Grunkle Stan's car.

"Hey, kid," Grunkle Stan greeted him. "Who's that, your girlfriend?"

"No!" he said, flushing bright red. "I made friends! And I learnt some ABC!"

"Good job, kid," said Stan, not really listening. He started up the car, and they drove home.

Once the two had gotten home, Dipper immediately got out the chart and set it on the kitchen table. Dinner wouldn't be for a good few hours, and he wanted to try something.

He had been given an A5 notebook at school, and opened it to the last page. 'Hat,' he thought, and recited the alphabet in his head, counting along the chart until he reached what was apparently the letter H. He copied it down, did the same for letters A and T, then grabbed the notebook and chart and ran to see Soos.

"Hey Soos, it's me, Dipper," he said. "You must be busy, so I'll make this quick; does this say 'hat'?"

Soos looked at the notebook. "Yeah, dude," he said. "Nice job." Dipper beamed, thanked Soos, and ran back to the kitchen table to do some more work.

Nothing could get him down, not even Mabel. This was great.

10-22-25 19-21-26'11 11-17-3-12-10, 21 7-15-16'10 26-25-16-5 21-10, 2-9-10 22-25'11 16-15-10 11-17-3-12-10 25-16-15-9-23-22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, that broke the record. THAT is the longest thing I've ever written. Almost 3000 words.
> 
> Only a few more chapters until Bill arrives, don't you worry. At this rate, I'll have one new chapter up every day!
> 
> Reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold, BYE!


	3. The Journal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SERIOUS WARNING: THIS CHAPTER FEATURES PHYSICAL ABUSE. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF THIS IS UPSETTING FOR YOU.

Friday night, as Dipper entered the house after an afternoon of sitting in the forest with his ABC book which the school had given him. Tucking it in his backpack, he walked up the stairs and entered his room, and immediately stopped.

Mabel was sitting on the end of her bed, looking angry. Upon hearing him come in, she stood up and walked towards him quickly.

Dipper made to run out of the door, but she grabbed him and swung him around so hard that he flew into the wall. He crashed into it and fell to the floor. He lifted his head up, groaning as he saw blood drip onto the floor.

"Where have you BEEN?" he heard Mabel shout.

"I was just in the forest!" he stuttered, his voice shaking. "I wasn't even that long!"

"Well, I've had a terrible day today!" She snarled, stamping her foot like a spoiled child. If he did that, his parents would have thrown him in a closet all day. "I still haven't met anyone here, and that idiot repairman won't let me out while Grunkle Stan's gone! If you'd been home faster, I could have gone!"

Dipper felt wetness on his face. Too good to be true. Trust nothing, trust no one. He didn't respond, just curled up into a ball and waited.

-later that night-

Dipper was cold.

The last few days had just been too perfect, and he should have known something would go wrong. Closets aren't the nicest of places, and they certainly aren't the nicest place to spend the night locked inside. He was right to be cautious; he knew Mabel hadn't changed. 

If he'd had a watch, he would have looked at the time, but he didn't. Instead, he slept fitfully, tossing and turning, constantly waking, as he had done for twelve years. When light began to peek in under the door, and Grunkle Stan called from the kitchen, Mabel unlocked it, and pulled it open.

She didn't even look at him as he quickly ran to the bathroom, wiping the blood from yesterday night off his face. He pulled his hair over the bruise on his forehead and used some of Mabel's makeup (that her parents had got her for their 12th birthday; they had bought him a small toy which had toxic parts in) to cover up a bruise on hs cheek. She would mind getting caught more than she would mind Dipper using it.

He raced downstairs and quickly snatched up a piece of bread. It was Saturday, and he intended to go into the forest, but Grunkle Stan stopped him.

"Dipper, before you go, take these signs and nail them up outside the Mystery Shack," Stan said, handing him signs, a hammer, and a box of nails. Dipper nearly dropped them, but eventually managed to balance them all. Mabel still didn't look at him as he walked out of the door. She'd definitely put Stan up to this, he thought bitterly.

Dipper walked over to the trees, holding the signs in his small arms. The hammer was almost too heavy for him to lift, but he did his best, hammering lopsided nails into chunks of wood and lifting heavy signs over them. Moving on to the next tree, the hammer made a heavy thunk as it hit the nail. Dipper dropped the hammer, the nails and signs, and traced his finger along the grooves and cracks in the tree, reaching a gap and forcing it open.

Inside the hollow tree was a machine with a lot of buttons, switches, and small broken screens. Dipper examined it, pressing every button and flipping every switch. Most of them did nothing, but one of them did; he heard a huge crash behind him and jumped, instinctively flinging his arms over his face, before peering out and realising that it was a hole in the floor. He approached it, reaching in. His hand grasped something rectangular and dusty - a book. The front cover... a six-fingered hand.

Dipper opened the book and was immediately greeted with words he didn't know. Confusion flooded his head as he looked through page after page of meaningless shapes. He could feel the frustration rising inside of him and shut the book; he didn't want to have a meltdown in the forest.

"When I learn to read, I'll come back to it," he resolved, taking the book and tucking it in his jacket. He didn't want Mabel finding out about it and teasing him more, or worse, destroying it. He started to head into the house, but then heard Mabel screaming from under the floor. Turns out those buttons did do something after all. Dipper smiled, almost not wanting to let her out, but decided against keeping her there. He raced back outside, and reluctantly pressed the button to pull back her chair and let her out. Her screaming stopped, and after ten seconds, he let the chair slide back into place.

He picked up the nails, the hammer and the signs and got back to work. The loud noises threatened to send him over the edge, so he took a small break before finally finishing and heading into the woods to learn to write.

As he walked, he let the events of the week wash over him. He remembered the teachers talking about his IQ. They were saying it was over 200. That probably meant he was stupid. But then why had they been praising him? No. It couldn't have been true. They were all lying.

Dipper stopped, and sat down by a birch tree. The Shack was still in sight, so he took out his alphabet book and a pencil. The graphite traced the letters, then copied them, almost as smoothly as Mabel's were. School really was the best place, Dipper thought. He didn't have to deal with Mabel there.

The roar of a car engine brought him out of his trance and he looked around for the source. He saw a car near the Mystery Shack and raced back over. Who was it? What did they want?

He stopped when he saw three children getting out of the car, and a grin plastered itself on his face. "Question Mark, Ice, Specs! What are you doing here?"

"We thought we'd visit you," Noora said in her gentle voice, "before the Shack opened. We wanted to see how you were settling in."

"Pine Tree, what happened to your face?" Ramiro said, squinting at him. Horror washed over him as he realised; some of the makeup must have come off.

"Uh, nothing! I... fell over in the forest." He said, cursing himself. Normally he did a better job at hiding emotions. Why was he suddenly terrible at it? Change topic. Change topic. "Hey guys, anyway, look what I found in the forest?" He pulled out the journal.

"Woah!" Malik said, tracing his finger over the golden hand reverently. "Six fingers? Fascinating. I've heard that's called polydactyly, but I've never seen it depicted before."

Dipper repeated the new word in his head, before letting it drift to the back of his mind. "I can't read all of it yet. The shapes... they're just..."

Malik gently took the book from Dipper and flicked through it. "Not unfounded, Pine Tree; some of these are ciphers. Most of it's ordinary English, though there are some words I don't understand. Clear the next hour, guys! We're going through this thing."

The group quickly stopped at the Shack to borrow a dictionary. Dipper was pleased that, when Mabel introduced herself as sweet as ever, they glared at her, and coldly said their names back to her. Even if they hadn't put two and two together, they'd definitely gathered that she was a jerk.

Ramiro stopped to chat with Soos. Apparently his first name was similar to Soos's last name, and they bonded quickly, not just due to their shared Latino heritage. Soos was funny, and good company, and the group was laughing by the time they finally left the Shack. Dipper had almost managed to forget everything that had happened last night, with a little... no, a lot of effort.

The group sat down by the same birch tree from earlier. Dipper opened the book, and Malik began to read.

"Property of... dang, it's been ripped. Volume 3. So there are more of these?"

"Cool!" said Ramiro, swinging his legs. "I might go explore, guys; sitting around for hours isn't really my thing. For obvious reasons."

The group laughed. "See you then, Question Mark!" Noora called after him.

"Don't get lost!" Dipper yelled.

"June 18th. It's hard to believe it's been 6 years since I started researching the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon!" The group looked at each other, amazed, and even Ramiro stopped walking away and turned around to hear more. "In all my travels, never have I observed so many curious things! Gravity Falls is indeed a geographical oddity."

"Guys, do you know what this means?" Ramiro said, excited. "The rumours are true! This town is a mess of conspiracies!"

"Rumours?" Dipper asked. "What rumours?"

"People always start talking about these... weird things that happen to them," Ramiro explained. "But when you ask the next day, they've always forgotten."

"It's almost like there's a secret society erasing people's memories," Noora said, smiling.

"What are we, the Conspiracy Gang?" Dipper asked with a smile.

"It could be. The Conspiracy Gang! Hunting down the supernatural, making powerful friends and enemies! Battling the forces of evil, including your sister!" Malik said, grinning at Dipper. "Whaddaya say? Conspiracy Gang?" He held his hand out in the space between the group, over the book.

"Conspiracy Gang!" Noora and Ramiro said, placing their hands over his. They looked at Dipper, who reached out his hand, suddenly trembling. Hesitant. He had never given anyone this amount of trust before. Sure, these guys were nice, but he was scared of physically touching them.

"Hey, Pine Tree," Malik said. "I was scared too." Dipper turned to face Malik. "You can trust us," he said, and smiled.

Dipper touched his hand to the pile.

"Conspiracy Gang."

25-15-21 13-1-4-5 1 13-9-19-20-1-11-5, 16-9-14-5 20-18-5-5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew. Sorry for not updating in a few days, I just haven't had much time. Normally I don't update stories this fast.


	4. His Achievement, Her Confusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: THIS CONTAINS MENTIONS OF ABUSE!
> 
> A few things:  
> 1\. Very sorry if anything American is wrong here, I live in Britain so yeah.  
> 2\. It recently occurred to me that Dipper, Mabel and Stan are based off of real people, so yeah, sorry Alex and Ariel.  
> 3\. Thanks so much for the hits, kudos and comments! I wasn't expecting this story to go so far so quickly, and I'm truly grateful.
> 
> Now, enjoy the chapter!

A week and a half had passed since then, and the Conspiracy Gang was already in action. Mabel watched as they raced away from the Mystery Shack, Dipper looking more alive than he ever had. 

Ever since she was a young girl, her parents had told her not to associate with Dipper. That he was a freak of nature, a mistake. She didn't understand, and wanted to see him anyway. Mabel shivered as she remembered her mother screaming at her when she tried to go into the basement where he was kept. She had had far fewer incidents with their parents than Dipper, but the marks were still there.

He was supposed to be the freak, yet he had gotten himself into a group of friends, and was learning to read faster than Mabel could knit a sweater. His teacher was going bananas. Stan was always late coming back from picking up Dipper because the teacher would always speak to Stan about what a little star his nephew was.

Mabel felt worse and worse about how she treated Dipper every day, especially now that she knew it wasn't normal. But it was a habit, and one that she didn't know how to stop. She walked out of her and Dipper's room, hesitated on the top of the stairs, before shaking her head and walking back in. Stan would judge her, he wouldn't get her help. She needed friends; friends who would show her how to stop.

Her parents. She still feared them, especially her mother. Seeing her father unconscious and bleeding from the shoulder - Dipper's work - had horrified her and made her believe that Dipper really was a freak. But why were her parents in prison? Child abuse. They couldn't have been right. But they had to be right. They couldn't be. They had to be.

Mabel continued thinking. She thought until Dipper came home, laughter ringing in from outside, and walked into their room. She looked at him and saw the way he flinched away, and felt like a monster.

"Listen, Dipper, I..." Her words died away, she couldn't say it, she wasn't strong enough. Dipper looked at her, scared, then quickly climbed into bed, pulling the covers over his face. She could hear his panicked breathing.

No. She shouldn't apologise. It's his fault for being a freak.

Right...?

Mabel lay awake for hours worrying, before she heard Dipper crying next to her. She focused on what he was saying. Muttered apologies, and the occasional, "I didn't want to do this." What did he mean? Was he talking about their father?

What was he really feeling?

It doesn't matter what that freak's thinking, said a voice that sounded suspiciously like her mother. You're doing the right thing, sweetie. Remember what I told you about him.

Mabel loved her mother, and so she trusted her.

-at school the next day (Friday), Dipper's perspective-

"Mason Pines to the principal's office!"

"Oh no," Dipper groaned as the announcement rang out. "I didn't do anything! Why do they want me there?"

"Relax, Pine Tree, it's probably nothing," Noora said, holding out her hand to him. He made to hold it, before hesitating.

"Thanks. I should go." He swept past the group, who looked at each other, worried.

"I'm telling you guys, this isn't normal behaviour," Malik piped up. "Even if he had been... well... if that had happened in the past, he isn't normal."

"Something's really wrong with Pine Tree," said Ramiro, rubbing his hands together frantically, "I just know it."

Dipper made his way to the principal's office, shaking at the thought of getting in trouble so early in school life. He tried desperately to think of something he'd done wrong, but recalled nothing. He knocked on the door. Hearing a, "Come in," from the room, he opened and hesitantly walked inside.

The principal smiled at Dipper. "Please, sit down, Mason."

"I- I'm not sure what I've done. But I'm sorry," Dipper said as he sank into one of the room's chairs.

The principal looked surprised, and slightly concerned. "You've done nothing wrong, Mason, I just wanted to talk. About your schoolwork."

Dipper's heart skipped a beat. "Am I not doing well enough? I always study outside of school, I'll try to make some more time."

"Quite the opposite, actually," the principal said, and Dipper started. "Your schoolwork is excellent. No one expected you to come this far this quickly, and I've heard tell that you have a brilliant IQ."

"I'm not sure what that means, sir, sorry," Dipper said.

"IQ is the measure of a person's reasoning ability, the average is 100 and yours is well over 200." The principal smiled at him again. "Far ahead of schedule, we've decided to move you up a class. Congratulations, Mason Pines."

"Thank you!" Dipper's delight, he felt, was a bit too apparent, but it was too late now. Then the feeling faded as another thought forced itself into his head. "What about my friends?"

"They're not too far behind you, although don't worry, you'll get to see them at break times. You'll start in the new group tomorrow." The principal almost jumped as the school bell rang- it was a soft sound, but still capable of surprising someone. "You go to recess now, Mason. I'll be calling your great uncle Stanford later today, and I'm sure your friends and family will be proud."

Dipper nodded, before leaving the office and speed-walking to the classroom. Some children had gone to play outside while the rest of the Conspiracy Gang and a few others stayed in. The gang looked up as Dipper walked in with a tired expression on his face.

"What's the word, Pine Tree?" Malik said, trying to hide his concern.

"Good and bad. I'm moving up a class." Dipper looked at the floor.

"Congratulations, Pine Tree, why's that bad?" Ramiro asked, clapping him on the shoulder.

Dipper jumped away from the contact instinctively. "Because I won't get to see you in class anymore."

"You will still see us at the weekends and after school, and at recess," Noora reassured him. "We're all happy for you. You should be happy for yourself."

"ANYWAY!" Ramiro interrupted, making Dipper and Malik jump in their seats. "Sorry. So, will Pine Tree be able to read the journal soon?"

"I'm going to read through it by myself first," Dipper told the group. "I did find it."

"Fair," Noora conceded. "But we're reading everything with you once you're done."

"Also fair, Ice," Dipper agreed.

The bell rang- not so much rang as played a sound- and everyone scrambled back into their seats as the teacher made the announcement that Dipper was leaving them.

-back home at the end of the day-

"So, Dipper, I got the call," Stan said while they were driving home.

"And...?" Dipper said nervously.

"I gotta say, I wasn't expecting it," Stan responded, not taking his eyes off the road. "Nice job, kid." He looked like he wanted to say something else, but bottled it up. Dipper didn't push it. He still didn't know what Stan was capable of.

"Thank you, Grunkle Stan," Dipper said. The rest of the drive passed in silence, and Dipper left to do extra work as soon as he got home, like always.

Dipper ran into his and Mabel's room, stopping when he saw her with a group of girls.

"Oh hey, Dip," she said. "These are my friends, Candy and Grenda. I met them while you were at school. Candy, Grenda, this is Dipper."

Dipper nodded at the two girls, one of whom had a strangely deep voice that he was not going to judge. "So, can I get my stuff, and I'll, uh, be going," he said, already grabbing reading books and the journal and backing towards the door.

"Nope," Mabel said with a grin. Dipper's heart sank through the floor.

"Girls, shall we give my brother a makeover?"

Dipper's relief was almost tangible as the loud girl and the short girl agreed enthusiastically. He'd been expecting so much worse.

9-20'19 20-9-13-5 6-15-18 13-25 1-18-18-9-22-1-12. 6-15-18 1-12-12 8-9-19 9-17, 16-9-14-5 20-18-5-5'19 19-20-9-12-12 17-21-9-20-5 19-20-21-16-9-4.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Mabel's perspective was shown for the first time. Will anyone show her that her parents are wrong? What will Dipper find in the journal?
> 
> We're going to see Dipper's angle on a new, important character next chapter, so buckle up! Gotta pass those Disney censors. Or not.


	5. Triangles and Terror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper has a meltdown and meets a certain someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaAAAAAA I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT POSTING FOR LIKE WEEKS
> 
> A full explanation will be down below, anyway I just got this chapter to a level where I'm satisfied with it so yeah, enjoy my terrible writing, as usual.

Dipper stood in front of the mirror, wiping off the makeup that had been smeared onto his face. He was still terrified: he didn't think that fear, that knowledge that someone could hurt you whenever they wanted, would ever go away, no matter how much he wished it would.

Sighing, he dried his face and didn't go back into the bedroom, instead walking out of the house, avoiding Stan and Soos. He sat down near the same birch tree as before, and took some deep breaths. No one had hurt him. He was okay, for now.

He reached inside his jacket and pulled out the journal, and for the first time (with the help of his laminated alphabet chart), Dipper could understand it. It was handwritten quite neatly, most of the time. Some of it was sloppy, and there were blank pages everywhere, but Dipper read, and he felt like he had learned everything.

He learned about the secrets of Gravity Falls and the mysterious creatures that inhabited it. As soon as he finished the first pages, he immediately looked around fearfully, checking for anything mysterious. Finding nothing, he sighed and continued to read, and his fascination grew with each passing page. He translated shapes to sounds with the alphabet chart, but found himself needing it less and less.

He could hardly bear to stop, but Stan was asking him to help out in the Mystery Shack and after what he'd done for Dipper, and Mabel too, how could he say no? So he packed up, and went over to wipe down the floors.

As he cleaned, he found himself thinking back to the past, as painful as it was. He remembered his mother yelling at him to hurry up while he frantically mopped the floor, his back aching and his arms still burning from the last time he wasn't quick enough to finish, thinking, 'This is the only thing I'll ever be good at.'

"That's not true, that's not true," Dipper told himself, shaking at the memory, almost as if his mother was still there behind him, and doubled the pace of his cleaning. When he had finished, he quietly went to bed, avoiding trouble like he always did. He prayed that Mabel would ignore him just for tonight, and mercifully she did, but his nightmares did not.

His dreams brought terror and yet more flashbacks to the life he'd left just a month ago; his mother screaming at him with a belt in her hand, blood dripping from the buckle. His father's look of... what was it? Regret? His father's look of regret as he shut the basement door. His sister's love, turning to confusion, and then to mocking as they aged. His own self, plunging a knife into the shoulder of his father. Wind through his hair as he stood on top of the crane, tears streaming down his face, voices asking him to just climb down and be safe.

Dipper wasn't quite sure when he was sleeping and when he was awake, but when the sunlight started to seep through the windows, he crept out of bed, and was gone before his sister awoke.

Malik was already up and about, and the two chatted together for a while at their designated spot in the forest before Ramiro joined them, yawning, his Question Mark shirt creased. Dipper made a remark about it needing an iron. Noora was the last to join them, apologising and telling them that she had been praying. The rest of the group told her that she hadn't needed to apologise anyway.

In the same clearing as before, most of the Conspiracy Gang read through the journal together, checking off the parts that Dipper had already read. Dipper, not interested in reading the same thing twice in such a short space of time, had focused himself on writing. He wrote his own name, MASON PINES, in sloppy graphite handwriting at the top of a blank page. Then added DIPPER, but promptly crossed it out, before adding the name PINE TREE, in the biggest letters of all.

He smiled down at his work. Honestly, he wouldn't mind being called Pine Tree by his friends, and maybe even referring to himself as such; it was the only name he really had that had never been 'tainted' by his parents or his sister. Mason had been given to him by his parents, when he wasn't just a freak to them and they still loved him. Dipper let the faded (but still existent) memories wash over him, memories of playing with his sister, memories of laughing with his parents. The memory of crying in the stores, not being able to stop no matter how much he tried. The memory of his parents coming home with a piece of paper in their hands - the diagnosis, he thought, that must have been it - and looking down at him with disgust. The memory of the basement door closing, hearing his sister knocking on it while he just looked up at it in confusion.

"...tree? Pine Tree!" Dipper screamed and fell off the stump he was sitting on, hitting the floor hard, even if it was just dirt. "Oh god, Pine Tree, I'm so sorry!" It was Malik; they must have finished reading the journal by now. It had taken them a while. After all, they had Noora, who for all her coolness was not good at reading, and Ramiro, who had to go walking around several times, apologising profusely each time.

"Please don't do that," Dipper whispered. The other two had looked over to see what was happening, and came running over, which didn't help. Dipper's heart beat faster and his breath quickened, eventually just shoving Malik away and covering his ears and eyes, blocking out the world.

Ramiro almost screamed, but stopped himself. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's had too much today, we need to give him some space," Malik said. "It's my fault, I'm so sorry Pine Tree."

Dipper didn't respond, his mind a blank, his ears ringing.

The gang stayed together, but at the same time the others stepped back from Dipper, except Malik, who approached him tentatively. 

"Hey, Pine Tree," he murmured. "It's okay. Whatever you're thinking right now, it isn't real, okay? It's not real. You're right here, with us, and we're your friends. We'll keep you safe."

Slowly, slowly, the ringing in Dipper's ears got softer, eventually disappearing completely. He looked up into Malik's brown eyes and began to cry. Malik went to hug him, hesitating, before Dipper wrapped his arms around him, sobbing into his shirt.

He didn't jolt back in fear when the rest of the group joined the hug. The thoughts of abuse were swept away in those of trust and safety. Surely if they wanted to take advantage of him they would have done it now. He could feel a warm glow in his chest even as he cried, the warm glow that he'd only heard of, never experienced. Trust.

When the group finally pulled away from the hug, Dipper was smiling. Malik grinned back, and in that moment, they were the brightest thing in the world for each other. Dipper wondered whether this generally happened in friendships.

"Should we get Stan?" Ramiro said, fidgeting with his hands and shifting from foot to foot. "Are you okay, Pine Tree?"

"Let's be honest, he'd probably tell me to quit being a wimp," Dipper joked, his eyes still wet. Behind it, however, was some truth; he didn't know how Stan would react to something like this. He'd probably be just like his parents: brushing it off if they were in a good mood, beating him if they were in a bad one.

Dipper shook his head. "Let's get off this topic; tell me what you found in the journal, will you? Maybe it'll help... you know?"

"There are all sorts of ciphers in there," Noora said. "We stopped at the page you told us to stop on."

"Thank you," Dipper said. "I was going to go read it on my own... but now I don't want to leave. You're nice."

"And that's the power of friendship for you!" Malik said, jumping up and down, a smile wide on his face. "Once you've joined our gang-" the smile turned oddly sinister- "you can NEVER LEAVE!"

"Shut up, Specs," said Noora and Ramiro in sync.

All Dipper could think about was how cool Malik was. And that his face felt kind of hot.

"Look at all these trees!" Noora said, pointing at a birch tree. "See, this one has eyes!"

"Someone's watching us!" Ramiro screamed, getting into the roleplay. "We've seen too much!" He grabbed onto a confused Malik's arm. "Run before it gets us all!"

Dipper giggled before leading the group's sprint away from the trees. They collapsed in the nearby clearing, laughing so hard that they almost cried.

They continued playing spies for the entire day (Malik not really understanding the pretend play) before Dipper had to leave for dinner. He waved goodbye to his friends as they dispersed.

Dipper headed inside, thoughts blossoming in his head. The birch trees... he did see eyes inside them, but thought it was just a myth. He glanced down at the carpet and had to stifle a gasp. The triangle... its eye looked a lot like the ones in the birch trees.

Dipper waved at it, before walking around the carpet, making sure not to step on the triangle, and made his way up to his bedroom.

Once he was there, he sat on his bed and opened his reading book. He wasn't stupid and was quickly getting the hang of reading; his mind immediately flicked back over to the journal and he reached a hand inside his jacket to retrieve it, only to jump in alarm when Mabel, Candy and Grenda walked through the door.

"Alright, Dipper. We're having a sleepover tonight, so you can get out." Mabel pointed at the door. Dipper didn't even bother arguing or telling her that he'd only just arrived, and grabbed his emergency bag before running out. He wasn't giving Mabel the chance to beat him before he left. He didn't notice her smirk falter and her face turn to one of guilt and confusion, didn't see the slight flicker of concern from her friends.

Stan was asleep on the couch, watching some television show. Dipper snuck by him easily, a hint of doubt in his ability to take care of the twins making itself present in his mind.

Dipper ran through the forest, finding a spot underneath a small group of pine trees. Setting up his emergency supplies, which consisted of a roll mat, a torch, a sleeping bag and some emergency food- he had taken the tattered items from Stan a few days before, thinking that he would hardly miss them- he took the book out of his jacket, turned on the torch and opened the journal to where he'd left off. On the page was a depiction of a triangle- a demon, the book told him.

"That triangle on the carpet! Bill Ci- Cipher... Aw, how can that thing be a demon? It's just a nacho with a bow tie, a hat and an eye!" Dipper smiled down at the picture, before frowning at the next sentence. "Wait... do not summon at all costs? Why not? And what's this piece of paper doing here?" Dipper opened the piece of paper, seeing no note at the top, only letters in a formation he could not understand. He took his alphabet chart out of his jacket, but the letters formed no word he knew. "vlr'ii qexkh... jb clo qefp... ixqbo, mfkb... qobb?" he read out, extremely slowly. "Why would someone put THAT in a book? I'll ask the gang later."

Dipper moved down the page. "Summoning incantation? Huh. That doesn't look like English." He focused all his concentration on the page, beginning to read the incantation. "Tri-triangum... no, triangulum... entan... gulum... veneforest- veneforis dominus... ventium? Veneforis... viden... videntis omnium!" He repeated the phrase until he was able to recite it with no mistakes. "That was weird. What does 'summoning incantation' mean anyway?"

Dipper yawned. His eyes felt heavy and he knew that he was going to sleep. He tucked himself under his sleeping bag, and closed his burning eyes... only to wake up in another world. "A dream...? I'm... oh no, I don't want a dream. What is it this time?" Sighing with resignation, he got up- weird, he didn't remember having control over his movement in other dreams- and started to look around.

This dream was different. The world was colourless except for him. The pine trees that were around him when he was awake were replaced by birch, and he saw the 'eyes' of the birch trees were all looking at him. He approached the birch tree and stared - he could have sworn he saw that eye blinking...

Dipper screamed and fell backwards as the eye gained colour and blinked at him again. Frantically looking around, all the eye carvings had done the same, but one of them moved into the clearing, right before him. Bricks formulated out of thin air, making a triangle around the eye, before the world flashed white and Dipper covered his eyes.

A few seconds later, he opted to open them, driven by curiosity, and gasped. The bricks had indeed made a triangle, but it had a hat, and bow tie and eye, and it was alive. It was the triangle from the journal.

"Oh, Gravity Falls," said Bill Cipher in a reverberating voice, "it is good to be back!"

9 20-15-12-4 25-15-21 9'4 2-5 8-5-18-5 19-15-15-14!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I am so so SO sorry, but the Easter holidays have started and with it, my revision has too. I really want to do well in my exams this year, and I won't stop until I've covered my whole revision lists, which WILL take weeks even if I don't eat, sleep, or do anything else. 
> 
> On top of that, I'm a huge procrastinator and a perfectionist, which is a terrible combination for obvious reasons. I procrastinate writing, while still not being able to post it until I think it's good enough.
> 
> Anyway. Enough with the excuses. So you met a certain someone today in the story. The next chapter will basically be a long conversation between him and Pine Tree- I mean Dipper.
> 
> So yeah, I'm already writing it so hopefully you won't be waiting for too long?
> 
> As always, thanks for reading!


	6. Who to Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper meets dream demon. Dipper trusts said dream demon... not entirely, but he seems good. He’s nice, and he doesn’t hit Dipper. So how bad can he be, really?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so frickin’ sorry.
> 
> I can’t excuse this wait. I didn’t think it would take this long for the next chapter, and it’s so short as well. I didn’t want to post this with the Tourist Trapped chapter, so I decided to post it on its own.
> 
> After exams ended, I didn’t really know what to do with myself, so I just ended up procrastinating. This chapter isn’t perfect by any means, but I have to give you something. It’s been too long.
> 
> Enjoy the show.

Dipper stepped back, terror etched all over his face. He couldn't say a word; what had he done? The demon flew down to his level and he immediately stepped back. "Don't- don't hurt me, please!"

"Yeesh, kid, relax," the demon said, floating up and down, his eye never leaving Dipper's. "So, what's the deal here? Why'd you summon me?"

"It- it was an accident, I'm sorry!" Dipper walked backwards hastily until his back hit one of the pine trees and he fell onto it. He stared up at the demon, terror in his eyes.

"Kid, I'm not going to- ugh." The demon slapped a hand against his eye, then turned and floated a few metres away. "The name's Bill Cipher, but you already know that," he said, turning back to Dipper. "And you're Mason 'Dipper' Pines, autistic, been locked in a basement for years. No need for introductions, kid.”

"Wha- How-" Dipper stuttered, bracing his arms against the pine tree and standing up. "How do you know who I am?"

"Oh I know lots of things, kid, lots of things," Bill said, images flashing on his body. Mabel, Stanford, Soos, the girl in the shop (Wendy?), him, his parents. "I also know you hate your name, so I'm just gonna call you Pine Tree."

"You're calling me that too? That might as well be my name now," Dipper said, poorly masking his fear with shaking laughter that Bill saw through easily.

"Why not, kid?" Bill said. "Also, heads up: if you're trying to make it seem like you're not scared, you're failing. Miserably."

"Oh." Dipper's head drooped slightly.

"It's okay, kid!" Bill said, spying an opportunity and seizing it. "I'll help you out. No strings attached!" But there would be soon, Bill thought.

"Help me with what?"

"I already told you that I know lots of things, and that includes your little problem with your sister," Bill said, projecting another image of her onto his triangular form. "Why do you think there are so many triangles around the place? I can see almost everything in that Shack."

"How does that work?"

"I'm a dream demon, Pine Tree, I don't follow the laws of this universe," Bill responded. "Though I can already see you're a clever kid, don't try to wrap your head around this one just yet, you might get burnout."

Dipper nodded. "A dream demon. I won't question it." Yet.

"So, let's get back to the point, shall we?" Two chairs, facing each other, appeared with a snap of Bill's fingers, and he settled onto one, crossing one of his legs over the other. "Make yourself comfy, kid."

Dipper hesitantly sat down on the other chair. "So... what's this about Mabel?"

"You want Shooting Star to stop beating you up, right kid?" Dipper nodded vigorously at the question, and Bill laughed. "I can help ya with that."

"You can?" Dipper rose up in the chair excitedly. "How?"

"Well, I don't normally go for the fighting approach, but it seems to me that that's just what you need, kid. I can get some... friends... to help you with that. Though I don't mind helping you out with the learning stuff too." Bill answered. He'd seen the kid's type before, and they were easy to trick if you got them to trust you. They would latch onto you and explain away your actions in any way they could. And with Pine Tree being on the Zodiac, it would be a free pass out of that danger zone, small as the threat from it was.

"Um, thanks I guess," said Dipper, hesitating. "But how can I know that you won't... I mean, you are a demon..."

Bill sighed. This kid might not be a complete idiot after all. "Isn't that a bit like saying, 'you're autistic so you must be stupid'? Demons aren't inherently bad, kid." It wasn't exactly a lie. He just wasn't one of the good ones.

"Oh! Sorry for assuming things, Mr. Cipher," Dipper replied, bowing his head. Would he be angry or try to hit him? 

"Just call me Bill, kid. And it's okay, but we're gonna have to continue our chat later. You're about to wake up."

"What?" Dipper said, confused. "I only went to sleep a few minutes ago."

"Might feel like that, kid," Bill said as the world started to fade, "but time moves differently in the Mindscape. Don't worry; I'll be seeing you again, soon."

Dipper sat up in his sleeping bag with a gasp. The world outside was light, so much so that it almost hurt his eyes. "Was that all just a dream?" he questioned, before noticing something written on his right hand. "The dream is real... look what I did to your other hand?" Dipper read out, glancing nervously at his left hand.

"LOOK! A TURKEY!"

Dipper laughed before he could stop himself. He didn’t really get the joke, but he liked this Bill Cipher guy already.


End file.
